Vere Foster (1819-1900) was the son of a
diplomat Augustus Foster and Albinia Hobart (1). His father was a distant cousin
of John Foster, Lord Oriel, last speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Vere
was the youngest of three brothers, Frederick being the eldest and Cavendish Hervey the second. His early childhood was spent in Italy. At the age of
eleven he went to Eton College where he remained for four years before
returning to Turin to continue his education. His chosen career was that of
civil servant, starting in the Audit Office in London before entering the
diplomatic service. His first visit to Ireland appears to have been made in
the autumn of 1841 when he, his brother Frederick and their father stayed in
Ardee, guests of the McClintock family. In 1848, having endured a long
illness, Augustus committed suicide. Frederick was already living in Co.
Louth at this stage (Castlering) (2) and in 1849 Vere decided to enrol for a
year long course at Glasnevin Model Farm. In 1850 Vere travelled to America,
with a large group of Irish emigrants, aboard the Washington. So
horrific was the journey that he kept a diary of the experience - he was
assaulted by one of the sailors when he complained about conditions on
board; the treatment of the poor emigrants was little short of barbaric. His
account, signed by about 120 (out of about 1,000) of the passengers, later
became the basis of a Parliamentary White Paper, which lead to the
introduction of legislation to improve the conditions for emigrants on board
ship (3).

In 1852 he established his ‘Irish Female
Emigration Fund’ which was set up to provide free passage to America for
young Irish females. This was not a compulsory emigration, or a plan by an
unscrupulous landlord to force tenants off their holdings, but rather a
genuine attempt by a very good man to better the circumstances, by providing
employment abroad, of a number of poverty-stricken people. It was all done
on a voluntary basis. His plans met with considerable opposition among the
clergy, farmers and shopkeepers, all of whom, for their own reasons, did not
want to see their congregations, stock of cheap labour, or potential
customers, already effected from the mass emigration as a result of the
recent famine, further dissipated.

The following article appeared in the
Drogheda Argus (County Louth) on 17 May 1856:

On Monday morning last Vere Foster, Esq.,
left Ardee with about seventy female emigrants for Canada. About twenty of
them had been inmates of the Ardee Union Workhouse, the remainder were from
the town and surrounding country – they were all decently clad with
comfortable clothes. The procession as it moved along the road, with the
worthy gentleman mounted on a common dray amongst his protégées reminded us
forcibly of the patriarch Jacob on his journey to the land of Goshen. We
confess, however, that it is a sight which must be anything but in unison
with the feelings of Irishmen. It shows that there is ‘something rotten in
the state of Denmark’ when our rural population are thus obliged to be
annually expatriated. It certainly is not for want of the raw material to
employ them, as our island, if properly managed, could employ and sustain
double its present population. We think if this wholesale exportation of the
bone and sinew of the country is permitted to go on thus annually that it
will in the long run be the cause of regret to all classes of society.

The seventy-five females referred to above
boarded the Lady Franklin at Liverpool on 15 May 1856. The ship
arrived in New York on the evening of 24 May. The majority of the these
emigrants (from the Ardee area of County Louth) were bound for Canada West (CW),
where they would take up positions as servant-girls, with a smaller number
staying, or opting to stay after they had disembarked, in New York (NY). On
arrival they were attended to by Commissioner Kennedy, who saw them safely
despatched to the various destinations. They were all reported to be in good
health and to have had a satisfactory journey, with no complaints. The
following is a list of those females (two would appear to have been
accompanied by a male sibling):

PASSENGERS PER ‘LADY
FRANKLIN’

Name, Age, Destination

Barton

Alice, 20, Port Dover, CW

Bellew
Maria, 16, Port Dover, CW

Brady
Anna, 16, Port Dover, CW

Brady
Catherine, 16, Port Dover, CW

Brady
Mary, 20, Port Dover, CW

Brady
Rose, 18, Paterson, NJ

Byrnes
Catherine, 20, Amiensville, NY

Byrnes
Ellen, 18, Amiensville, NY

Campbell
Anne, 16, Port Dover, CW

Campbell
Mary, 19, Port Dover, CW

Campbell
Mary, 16, New York City, NY

Carney
Bridget, 22, Port Dover, CW

Carroll Mary, 19, Port Dover, CW

Carrollan
Catherine, 18, Port Dover, CW

Carry
Biddy, 16, Port Dover, CW

Clarke
Mary, 25, Port Dover, CW

Coleman
Margaret, 16, Port Dover, CW

Condra
Anna, 22, New York City, NY

Conlon
Anne, 17, Newburg, NY

Connor
Mary, 16, Port Dover, CW

Creaton
Catherine, -, Port Dover, CW

Cummerford
Mary, 21, Port Dover, CW

Cunningham
Andrew, 20, New York City, NY

Cunningham
Bridget, 20, New York City, NY

Drumgoole
Margaret, 20, Port Dover, CW

Duffy
Anne, 18, Port Dover, CW

Duffy
Anne, 18, New York City, NY

Duffy
Elizabeth, 20, Port Dover, CW

Durnin
Mary, 16, Port Dover, CW

Flanagan
Ellen, 18, Port Dover, CW

Gaherty
Mary, 16, Port Dover, CW

Gartland
John, 25, Boston, Mass

Gartland
Mary, 22, Boston, Mass

Green
Mary, 17, Port Dover, CW

Grimes
Bessy, 16, Port Dover, CW

Grimes
Catherine, 17, Port Dover, CW

Hand
Jane, 14, Sisters of Mercy for Seneca Falls,

Kernan
Ellen, 17, Port Dover, CW

Lamb
Mary, 20, Port Dover, CW

Mackle
Margaret, 18, Port Dover, CW

Malone
Margaret, 16, New York City, NY

Malone
Mary, 20, Port Dover, CW

Marron
Rose, 20, Port Dover, CW

Mathews
Margaret, 37, Port Dover, CW

Mathews
Margaret, 14, Troy, NY

Mathews
Mary, 20, Port Dover, CW

McArdle
Margaret, 17, Port Dover, CW

McCanna
Margaret, 21, Port Dover, CW

McCormack
Catherine, 20, New York City, NY

McDonald
Mary, 21, Port Dover, CW

McIntegart
Eliza, 16, Port Dover, CW

McLean
Catherine, 18, Port Dover, CW

McNeill
Anne, 14, Rochester, NY

Meade
Anna, 17, Port Dover, CW

Murphy
Bridget, 23, Troy, NY

Murphy
Jane, 21, Port Dover, CW

Murphy
John, 21, Troy, NY

Murphy
Mary, 22, Troy, NY

O'Brien
Catherine, 16, Port Dover, CW

Reilly
Margaret, 17, Richmond, S.I.

Reynolds
Essy, 18, New York City, NY

Rogers
Anne, 26, New York City, NY

Sanders
Isaac, 22, Boston, Mass

Shallcross
Henrietta, 16, New York City, NY

Sheridan
Patrick, 26, Boston, Mass

Skelly
Catherine, 18, Port Dover, CW

Smith
Catherine, 16, Port Dover, CW

Smith
Kate (Bridget), 20, Port Dover, CW

Taffe
Anna, 15, Port Dover, CW

Tiernan
Jane, 18, Port Dover, CW

Victory
Anne, -, New York City, NY

On 02 June the Arran left the docks at
Drogheda bound for Liverpool. On board were around forty more Vere Foster
emigrants. They departed for New York on 05 June on board the Calhoun.

In the meantime, the newspaper article, quoted
above, had obviously come to the attention of Foster and must have taken him
by surprise. On 07 June, the Argus inserted the following few lines:

EMIGRATION TO CANADA

We inserted last week [sic], depending on the
good sense of the contributor, an article in reference to the female
emigrants who had left Ardee under care of Mr. Vere Foster, and it was
calculated from its tone to induce the example to be followed. We at present
request our readers not to be influenced by the article we allude to until
we make more particular enquiries.

The reason for the last line above was that, on
that same day, Foster met with the editor of the newspaper, in the offices
of the Argus, for what was reported to be a ‘warm’ discussion. Two days
after the meeting, in a letter dated 09 June written in Liverpool, Foster
wrote to the editor saying

…. I am anxious to say that I regret very much
having been berated into undue warmth of language and disrespectful
expressions towards yourself, and I request you will accept my apologies for
so doing.

It is a measure of the man that he should
apologise immediately upon finding out he was wrong and the Argus was
fulsome in its praise (in a long article on the 14 June) of Foster as a
gentleman, but rounded once again on his aims. The misunderstandings that
lead to the row revolved around an incident at Drogheda docks as the last
‘batch’ of Foster emigrants were boarding the Arran for Liverpool on
02 June. Public unease at, and general distrust of Foster’s motives in
sending females to America, gave rise to riotous scenes at Drogheda docks
and accusations of proselytising and souperism against him. At the
time of his meeting with the Argus editor, Foster was unaware that
any unpleasantness had occurred at Drogheda and when told about it at that
meeting, must have been unwilling to accept the story as true. In his letter
he continued, ‘I think it most likely that the person who informed you of my
having distributed tracts was himself the distributor, for the purpose of
creating a prejudice against my proceedings’.

At its most basic, souperism was the offensive
and derogatory term used for those people (the Soupers) who had converted
from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism in exchange for food during the
recent famine.

A day later, 10 June, having investigated
further, Foster wrote another letter (4), this time in Ardee, to the Argus editor, setting out his understanding of what had happened at
Drogheda. According to him it would appear that one of his passengers,
Eliza Adams, alias Doolan, had some tracts in her possession,
reviling the Roman Catholic religion, which she proceeded to circulate at
the quay. It was a very foolish act. She was the only Protestant girl there
and was being sent by Foster to Quebec, whereas all the other emigrants were
going first to New York. Foster did not pay her fare as a special collection
had been held for her among her co-religionists to which the Lord Lieutenant
of County Louth donated £3. Foster pointed out that she had ‘evidently been
made the organ of some mischievous, though possibly well intentioned,
proselytisers’. Many years later (5)
Foster would recount that day and the atmosphere at Drogheda quays:

Many of the farmers were mad at me for reducing
the supply of labourers and servant girls; and alternate entreaties,
threats, and force were used to prevent many of my party from embarking,
cries being got up that my intention was to make Protestants of them; that
they were to be bound for a term of years; to be sold to "the blacks", to
the Mormons, etc etc.

It is not clear, in fact, whether a single tract
was actually distributed or not that day. More than anything else, it seems
that the unfortunate Eliza Adams, for some reason, most likely
related to the fact that she was the only Protestant in the group, was used
as a scapegoat for the crowd’s anger and her pockets were searched. Tracts
were found and thrown into the air amid accusations that this was proof
positive of Foster’s proselytising intentions. It should be pointed out that
Vere Foster was probably agnostic and would have been horrified at any
accusations made against him of religious bigotry. In its article of 14
June, the
Argus went on to discuss Foster’s female emigration policy
saying that:

the majority of young women who leave Ireland
for America make a bad exchange. They have to work as hard, if not more so,
for their sustenance than at home, and Catholic girls in particular, removed
very often a great distance from religious example and instruction, lose the
peace and ease of mind necessary for even worldly comfort.

It went on to denounce the fact that the girls
were being removed from their ‘natural protectors’ – men, and suggested that
if anyone should emigrate, it should be men, not women. It advised Foster to
make some attempt to alleviate the worries of the families of the female
emigrants by letting them know that the women had arrived safely in America
and were being properly looked after and where they were. The paper also
quoted from a letter of a Catholic priest, the Rev. Mr. O’Dowd in
Montreal, to the Board of Guardians of the Drogheda Union who had offered
assisted passage to some girls to Canada, stating, ‘I am glad you send none
but persons whose conduct you could vouch. It is a great evil to help others
to come out. They seldom improve for the better by being changed to a
strange place’.

On 28 June, the newspaper again returned to the
topic of female emigration, Mr. Foster’s ‘depopulation system’, again making
the point that there was no need for it, that it endangered the morals of
the women and left them liable to the temptation of Souperism. It also
claimed that Foster was playing into the hands of unscrupulous landlords and
that ‘he would eventually strip the country of its population more
effectively that the Ejectment Acts’. It claimed that not a single ship left
the port of Liverpool bound for America without a souper agent on board ‘and
agents too, if possible, of a worse description’. It also gave a not
implausible description of the traps into which the unwary could fall:

They are beset on board ship with false
advisors; they are surrounded by them when they land, and after taking
shelter in some miserable boarding house are kept there under lying
pretences until their last sixpence is exhausted, and then driven by
necessity to take the first situation that offers no matter how degrading.

Finally it demanded that Foster ensure the
spiritual, moral and physical welfare of his emigrants before allowing them
to embark for America.

And with that, the Drogheda Argus let the
matter rest. Foster, on the other hand, seemed to take some of the criticism
on board, however unjustified it was. In fact he did ensure and had ensured
since starting his project in 1852, that his protégées were met at New York,
that they had a place to rest when they arrived there, that they were seen
to their destinations and that they had jobs to go to. He made annual trips
to America since 1850 and travelled extensively there and even at times
accompanied his emigrants to their final destinations. On 12 June 1856 he
wrote to P. Lynch, editor of the Irish American newspaper, advising
him of the arrangements he had made for the Calhoun emigrants and
included a list of their names (all from County Louth):

PASSENGERS PER ‘CALHOUN’

Name, Age, Destination

Brady

Elizabeth, 20, Simcoe,
CW

Byrne Margaret, 17, New York,
NY

Campbell Mary, 20, Simcoe, CW

Cassidy Mary, 20, Simcoe, CW

Conelly
Ann, 24, Simcoe, CW

Conelly
Catherine, 17, Simcoe, CW

Crany
Mary, 22, Simcoe, CW

Craven Catherine, 20, Chillcothe,
Ohio

Cummerford
Catherine, 18, Simcoe, CW

Devlin Jane, 18, Simcoe, CW

Devlin Maria, 20, Simcoe, CW

Downes
Catherine, 19, New York, NY

Durnin Biddy, 16, Simcoe, CW

Fanning Bridget, 17, Boston, Mass

Flanagan Bridget, 18, Boston, Mass

Gallagher Peter, 23, New
York, NY

Halligan
Ann, 24, Simcoe, CW

Harmon Ann, 17, New York, NY

Hickey Judith, 23, Simcoe, CW

Kavanagh Margaret, 17, Simcoe,
CW

Kelly Mary, 22, Simcoe, CW

King Betty, 20, Simcoe, CW

Lamb Margaret, 25, Simcoe, CW

Lannon
Mary, 19, Simcoe, CW

Levins Patrick, 22, Boston, Mass

Magee Rose, 20, Simcoe, CW

Magennis
Bridget, 17, Simcoe, CW

Matthews Bridget, 20,
Providence, RI

Matthews Mary, 17, Simcoe, CW

McAvoy
Ann, 17, Simcoe, CW

McCabe Bridget, 16, Simcoe,
CW

McDonald Bridget, 18, Simcoe,
CW

McGuire Ann, 20, Simcoe, CW

McGuire Catherine, 24, Simcoe,
CW

McKeown Bridget, 17,
Brooklyn, NY

McKeown Mary, 23, Simcoe, CW

Murray Mary, 18, Simcoe, CW

O'Brien Ann, 19, New York, NY

O'Neill Margaret, 20, Simcoe,
CW

Poor Catherine, 28, Simcoe,
CW

Quigly Margaret, 17,
Bradford, CW

Smyth
Bridget, 16, Simcoe, CW

He included a
further short list of five of his emigrants who left Liverpool on 06 June
aboard the Orient. One of these was from County Louth and the rest
from County Clare, but he does not specify which:

PASSENGERS PER ‘ORIENT’

Name, Age, Destination

Anglin
Bridget, 18, Broklyn (sic), NY

Burke Honora, 14, Broklyn
(sic), NY

Butler Mary, 17, New York

Duffy Winifred, 22, Springfield, MS

Fitzpatrick, Margaret, 20,
Amsterdam, N

The letter, with its names, was picked up by the Newry Examiner and printed in that newspaper on 23 July 1856. The
Drogheda Argus ignored it. In his account of the incident in later life,
Foster conflated the Lady Franklin and Calhoun stories, but it
is clear from contemporary newspaper articles that the Eliza Adams incident
related to the Calhoun only. In 1857 another party of 120 girls left
Ireland and sailed to New York, via Liverpool on the City of Mobile.
Once again Foster had to face the wrath of the Press, this time in the guise
of the Freeman and the Times (which picked up the story), and
once again the accusations flew.

In 1858 Foster embarked on his next great
project, the reorganisation of the National School system in Ireland. His
work in this area, paid mostly out of his own pocket, is still not properly
recognised or appreciated.